We Are Legion
by UnforseenConsequences
Summary: What truly constitutes life or what truly has a soul, such boundaries in philosophy are broken with the existence of a single being, but what does that being actually strive for from it's sentience?
1. Chapter 1 redux

The small bits of matter that served for ammo riddled the air as Shepard ducked behind a chest high crate, narrowly avoiding being decapitated by a burst of fire from one of the many Geth troopers that occupied the surface of the endangered planet, Haestrom. Peeking above the piece of cover he had taken, the Commander was forced to quickly snap his head back down behind the crate for fear of his life. Looking out into the battlefield, he located one of his comrades, the Krogan warrior known to him as, "Grunt". Getting the large creature's attention, Shepard communicated to him through a hand signal to press further against the line of what seemed an endlessly respawning sea of Geth enemies. Without a second thought, Grunt nodded back to the Commander, and charged further into the storm of bullets, distracting most of the synthetic opponents for a critical moment.

Again, Shepard popped out from behind his safeguard and opened fire with his assault rifle on a nearby Geth that was attacking Grunt, obviously judging the large Krogan as a much larger threat than the small human that was situated toward the rear of the battlefield. Getting wiser, the enemy forces split their firepower amongst the two targets, pinning them behind their respective bullet shields, leaving the pair to take pot shots as the Geth continued the advance against the small group. Left with few options considering the circumstances, Shepard put his hand in the air, clamping down quickly, as if to signal what would be an unknown ally. The Geth disregarded his action as a desperate bid of forgiveness to his before death, and continued to bear down the spot Shepard was situated.

Out of nowhere, as if by divine intervention, a loud _snap_ cracked the trance held by the warriors on the battlefield as the Geth trooper nearest Commander Shepard fell, and began to disintegrate due to a built-in failsafe mechanism consistent to all the Geth. The pattern continued as one by one all the enemies closest to Grunt and Shepard began to fall. Once again adjusting to an unexpected variable in the battlefield, causing the synthetic warriors to retreat behind nearby stone pillars, frantically peering out at random times in an attempt to locate their unknown assailant, only for them to suffer a lethal shot to their critical systems by said unknown attacker.

Time passed and eventually the Geth forces were whittled down to nothing more than a few resilient dregs that sat resolutely behind their protective barriers, waiting for the ragtag group to make a move on them so they could retain the upper hand as well as the element of surprise. Finally deciding they could make an advance, Shepard signaled for his group to make a push forward and eliminate the remaining Geth in the small mining yard. Meeting in an enclosed area out of the way of the sun, his Krogan ally trudging over in a nonchalant and disconnected fashion, seeming completely unphased by the combat he had just engaged in, or the various small wounds that riddled his body, then again, this was generally customary amongst the Krogan race. Settling in, Grunt leaned against a stone wall behind him, waiting for the third member of their small party. Shortly following Grunt entering the little hollow, a large figure moved into the shade, clearly a Geth but distinguishing itself as something far different as made obvious by the N7 armor that adorned it's right shoulder, as well as a massive hole that went clear through the chest of the Geth, but not seeming to hamper it's function in any way. Then there was the plates that ringed the thing's "face", moving about rapidly as it observed the area, as though it was a synthetic attempt to appear more human, but rather giving it an appearance that was slowly approaching the uncanny valley, not helped by the synthetic muscles that wrapped it's limbs.

Leaping forward and reaching for his shotgun, Grunt took an offensive stance against the new invader.

"Dammit Legion, don't sneak up on me like that, I was about to put a second hole in you." Slotting his shotgun to his waist once more, Grunt moved back into the small area, waiting for what Shepard had to say.

"We will log that knowledge so as to prevent any friendly fire during future endeavors." Replying in it's synthesized voice, not helping to assuage any of the worries the group had about the loyalty of their Geth ally, the fact that it said this while ejecting a spent thermal clip from it's M-98 Widow, only made Shepard and Grunt more nervous.  
Finally replacing the rifle into the slot on it's back, Legion stood attentive for the Commander's words.

"Legion, can you do a calculation for me?"

"Specify task Shepard Commander." Legion asked, plates flaring on it's head in confusion.

"I need to know how much farther we are from reaching Tali."

"Calculating, we are approximately seven point two three miles from reaching the target, if we can keep our current pace, we will reach our goal in approximately an hour and thirty one minutes."

"Then I guess we need to get moving." Grunt said, moving toward a staircase at their backs that lead to a platform over the level below. 

Starting to move upwards, Grunt bringing up the rear of the pack, the walls around them shook from the impact of an explosion. Wheeling around, the group saw a large, stark white Geth standing in the entrance to the small yard, reloading a missile launcher.

"Shepard, a Prime!" Grunt called out, barreling forwarding while simultaneously unlocking his shotgun from it's spot on his waist.  
Before Grunt could reach the twelve-foot elite unit, it managed to fire a rocket in the Commander's direction.

"Shepard Commander, DANGER!" Legion cried, leaping from it's spot several steps up on the staircase, tackling Shepard out of the way of the oncoming explosive, pinning him to the ground in an iron grip, close enough so that Shepard was able to hear the various servos and motors at work inside of Legion's mechanical body, muffled slightly by the gun blasts and sounds of exertion Grunt was making while battling the massive Geth Prime.

Apparently victorious, the Krogan made his way back to the spot that Legion had Shepard pinned to the ground.

"Let's get going Shepard." Grunt said, some tension in his voice as well as conflicting knowledge, knowing exactly what the scene before him looked like, but Legion would never attack Shepard, as far as he knew.

"Legion, I don't suppose you would mind getting off of me?" Shepard sputtered, under the weight of the Geth, surprisingly heavy for having such an average stature.

"We are sorry for the inconvenience Shepard Commander," Legion replied, settling onto it's hands and knees, "However we cannot allow you to make an attempt to move before we analyze that you did not suffer any physical injuries from the recent impact."  
The small flashlight-light "eye" in Legion's head dashed back and forth, strafing over the Commander's body before reaching his ankles and then making the return trip back up to the top of Shepard's head, and finally, Legion placed a three-fingered hand on Shepard's chestplate, before seemingly satisfied, Legion stood up and offered the same hand to the commander.

"You seem to be suffering from no serious injuries, save a partailly fractured fourth rib, but the pain should be able to be assuaged by localized anesthetic and a dose of medi-gel, once again we are sorry for the inconvenience Shepard Commander."

"Um, no problem Legion, I guess, so can we go?"

Opening the shutters in front of the console, Shepard peered out from his vantage point above the battlefield watching the movements of the Geth as they reformed their lines against the oncoming guerilla assault. Then Shepard noticed someting amongst the moving mechanical forms of the synthetic troops, what he had initially thought to be a large chunk of rock that had fallen out of a nearby cliff face, was now moving, unfolding, as it took a stance on four spindly legs, before he recognized it for what it was, the unmistakable visage of a heavy Geth unit.

"Colossus, get down!" He cried, dropping to the floor as he saw the large Geth unit charging up the familiar Siege Pulse he had encountered so many times in the years previous. However, this time he was in the heavily armed Mako tank, which would make this encounter more than it's fair share difficult. As they picked themselves up off the stone floor of the ancient Quarian architecture, Grunt turned to him, chuckling.

"This is why I follow you Shepard, big things."

Fearing another blast from the Colossus, and now severley exposed due to the open shutters of the balcony, Shepard directed the movement of his group down a set of stairs to the left to get a better vantage point on the Colossus. Rounding the corner, the Commander saw a Quarian in a red exo-suit, immediately realizing that this must have been the Kal Reegar that Tali had mentioned when he spoke to her earlier. Taking fire from small units, Reegar took notice of their presence.

"Over here, get to cover!" He called out. Dashing over to where the Quarian was holed up, Shepard got an assessment of the situation.

"Squad Leader Kal Reegar, Migrant Fleet marines," He said, after taking a shot with the missile launcher he held, "We talked on the radio before that dropship arrived, I still got no idea why you're here, but this ain't the time to be picky."

Another Siege Pulse collided with the stone support of the nearby building, causing dust and debris to fly up and make Reegar flinch.

"Tali's inside over there," He continued, motioning toward a door behind the Colossus. "Geth killed the rest of my squad and they're trying to get to her, best I've been able to do is draw their attention."

"How many Geth are out there?" Shepard asked, deciding to assess the strength of the opposing force.

"The Geth are near platoon strength," Reegar replied, "But the Colossus is the worst part, it's got a repair protocol, huddles up and fixes itself, can't get a clear shot when it's down like that. I tried to move in closer, but the bastards punched a shot clear through my suit."

"We need to get to Tali." Shepard pressed, trying to hurry the conversation along, "Got any ideas?"

"Just one," the Quarian replied, "I ain't movin' so well but I can still pull a trigger, and I got a rocket launcher that the sun hasn't fried yet, you move in close, I'll keep the Colossus busy, maybe you can drop it's shields, with any luck, you should be able to finish it off."

"Good luck Reegar." Shepard said, before getting ready to jump into combat once again, "Let's go shoot some Geth."

"Keelah Se'Lai." Reegar bid to him, "Say hi to Tali for me."

Sprinting across to a balcony that overlooked the workyard below, Shepard pressed against the heavy resistance that was put up by the collective of Geth that occupied the area, simultaneously dodging the devastating attacks tossed his way by the Colossus. Between the repeated attacks by the powerful Geth that were closing in on him, forcing him to resort to desperate close quarters against the synthetic enemies. Caught pinned against his piece of cover while reloading, a Geth trooper moved in on his position, Shepard left defenseless before it, was about to go toe to toe with the machine, using his assault rifle as a club, before being left dumbfounded as Legion sank a single shot into the foe with his rifle, saving Shepard for the second time, allowing the Commander to continue his attack against the Geth.

Stepping over the various broken pieces of the massive Geth colossus, Shepard ,Grunt and Legion moved to the door that lead to where Reegar said that Tali was conducting her research. Stepping into the small cavern, Legion looked about, seeing the two Geth troopers and one Prime that lay incapacitated on the ground near the door, Tali's lethality made apparent right then.

"Just let me finish this download." Tali muttered, not even bothering to look up from the console that she was working at. Approaching where she stood, Shepard saw Tali apparently finishing up with whatever work she was conducting, turning to face her hero.

"Shepard, I can't believe you-" Catching sight of Legion, she gasped, surprise apparent in the tone of voice she took, "Geth, get down!"  
Drawing a pistol from her side, she opened fire on Shepard's synthetic ally, causing Legion to take somewhat unnecessary cover behind a nearby data tower.

"Allied fire, taking cover, requesting assistance Shepard Commander!"  
In any other conditions, Shepard would have thought the situation funny, considering the irony of the whole mess, the powerful Geth taking cover from a small Quarian, and the way it called to him as if it was so helpless against her. It took alot out of Shepard to remain serious, before realizing that if Legion did suffer too many hits, he could actually get damaged, but before Shepard had to intervene, a realization dawned on Tali and she stopped firing.

"How does that Geth know your name?" Tali questioned, pistol still raised.

"This Geth is part of our team, it's fighting the other Geth," Shepard said, while motioning for Legion to come out of cover and stand by him, "I can explain it later."

"Fine, I'll drop it for now," Tali replied, hesitance apparent in her voice as she holstered her pistol, "But you had better have a good explanation for this."

AN:It has come to my attention from the reviewer Inverness that the site killed all my formatting upon upload, this should be remedied and I appreciate the feedback.


	2. Chapter 2

To say that the atmosphere on the Normandy SR-2 was tense, was putting it lightly. Just strolling the grated metal floor of the ship's deck, Shepard could feel the animosity amongst the crew members, granted they all shared a mutual respect for the Commander, or an obligation to the man at the very least, but to the members of Cerberus he was a hero of humanity, and to many others, he was the savior of the Citadel, that and he was a very convincing individual. Just because the crew respected Shepard, though, didn't mean they had to get along with each other, as was made apparent by when he had to break apart a would-be catfight between Jack and Miranda, but considering that he was able to defuse the whole mess before they put a hole in the hull, the potential for a real meltdown existed every minute they spent on the rebuilt Normandy

The obvious place to start was all the various races that now called the small ship their home. Firstly there was the tension between Grunt and Garrus, the deep-seated grudge that ran between the Turians and the Krogan ever since the creation of the Genophage, but being so young, Grunt hardly knew anything about the history of the Krogan, and the status of being a tank-grown, Shepard wondered if Grunt would even care.

Probably even more volatile than an angry Krogan, if that was even possible, was Jack. The biotic super-human, put through various experiments and genetic modifications to become the perfect human warrior, aboard a ship with the organization that did it to her was, in a nutshell, a problem waiting to happen. Easily the most powerful biotic amongst them, save maybe the Justicar Samara, Jack was definitely not an individual to be trifled with. Even without Kelly Chamber's analysis, Shepard could tell that there was something, off, about Jack. Maybe it had to do with the fact that she killed her first human being before she was even legally of age.

Then of course there was Legion and Tali. A Geth on a vessel was enough to make anyone nervous, but put it in the same area as a Quarian, that was just asking for trouble. Perhaps it had been shortsighted, thought Shepard. Maybe it had been his assumption that everyone in his crew would automatically be able to work properly together without a single hitch, or that he thought they could all put aside their differences in order to fight the reapers as one, that didn't seem to be the case, now as Shepard thought back to what could now be classified as a pipe dream. In all, there hadn't been too many internal conflicts aboard the Normandy, but the situation that had transpired between Jack and Miranda just went to show the Commander that it was only a matter of time before something serious took place.

"Um Commander," Shepard halted mid-stride as cropped an ear to hear what Joker had to say over the intercom, "Tali just went to have a 'chat' with Legion, you'd better get down to the AI core."

And that something took place much faster than Shepard had anticipated. Fresh from just having helped Tali get acquitted from her charges, exasperated could not express how drained the Commander felt. Then again, Tali had just found out that her father had been killed. Shepard couldn't quite relate to the Quarian, never having known his father or mother for that matter, growing up as an orphan on the streets of Earth; but it couldn't be easy for anyone, especially an emotional young woman such as Tali.

Passing Dr. Chakwas on his way into the small AI core, he considered asking if she knew anything about what was going on inside, but a disconnnected, unhindered look in her eye as she pursued her paperwork communicated to Shepard that the old woman was apparently oblivious to the events taking place in the room not fifty feet away from her. Leaving the medical officer unperturbed in her work, the Commander passed through the portal into the AI core. Stepping into the dim lighting of the room, Shepard took in the scene before him, there stood Tali, pistol raised at point blank range to Legion, not looking the least bit worse for wear, despite the news regarding her father.

"Shepard, I'm glad you're here," She said to him, not taking her eyes off the Geth, "I caught Legion scanning my Omni-Tool, it was going to send data about the Flotilla back to the Geth!"

"Creators performed weapons tests and were discussing plans to attack us," Legion replied, if there was any worry that could be portrayed through it's voice, Legion hid it well, but Shepard couldn't help but think that something deeper stirred within the synthetic as made evident by the plates on it's head that were now shifting up and down as if to communicate something that the rest of it's body could not. "We believed it necessary to warn our people."

"We already made the Geth stronger by rewritnig the ones that worshipped the Reapers!" Tali countered, referencing the point at which Legion had called for his help personally to help a problem with it's people, and in the end Shepard couldn't bring himself to destroy any more of Legion's brethren, instead opting to reverse engineer the virus used by the Reapers for their own purpose, a lucky second option presented by Legion at what could easily be called 'The Last Second'. "I won't let Legion endanger the fleet by giving them more information!"

"Creator Tali Zorah acts out of loyalty to her people," Legion justified, "She was willing to be exiled to protect them, we must also protect our people from the creator threat."

"You can't let this happen Shepard," Tali stomped, obviously on the point of breaking, "I trusted you, and I worked with a Geth on the team, but this is too much!"

Torn between the two, Shepard was left in a bind. On one hand, Tali had already suffered alot as it stood, something like this could break the poor girl. Legion on the other hand, he was cold, calculating, understanding above all, yes, Sheaprd knew what he had to do, Legion would understand in the long run, the synthetic ally always did.

"We can't risk a fight between the Quarians and the Geth right now," Shepard boomed, trying to stay strong and appeal to Legion's better sense of judgement. "Legion, I'm ordering you to not transmit that data."

"We will obey." Legion replied, plates flaring on it's head before finally comlpying, "The immediate fight against the Old Machines supersedes long-term conflicts."

Apparently satisfied with the results, Tali settled down, but before she left the AI core, Legion took on a far more dangerous tone that chilled Shepard deep into his being, that in an Organic, Shepard would have marked as anger, jealousy, or even hate.

"Once Old Machines are defeated however, creators _will _answer for actions against our people."

"Thank you Shepard, I'm sorry that got out of hand," Tali sighed, passing by the Commander on her way out, "But I couldn't let Legion endanger my people."

Standing in the gap between the AI core where Legion faced the wall and the medical bay where Tali had apparently attracted the attention of Dr. Chakwas, Shepard was torn as whether to talk to Tali about what had happened, but the comment Legion made when the Commander sided with Tali, made Shepard somewhat unsure of exactly how stable Legion was. Making his decision, Shepard approached Legion, in an attempt to console what is in essence an emotionless creature.

"Shepard Commander." Legion said, sounding just as it had when he first met it, no change in it's synthetic voice.

"I'd like to talk about what happened with Tali."

"Unnecessary," Legion replied with uncharacteristic impatience, "Creator Tali Zorah is afraid of us, Shepard Commander is afraid of us," Hanging it's head Legion finally finished in what could best be described as a pout, "This is normal."

"Legion?" Shepard approached the Geth, still wary in case the thing finally decided to snap and give into baser instincts. "Are you jealous of Tali?"

Seemingly caught off guard by Shepard's remark, Legion snapped back up from staring at the floor, making an erratic movement, avoiding the Commander's gaze at all costs, this time staring at the wall in a similar fashion to when Shepard questioned it about his N7 armor piece, before finally facing the man, all six plates around it's "face" flared as far up as the Commander had ever seen them move.

"We have told you before Shepard Commander, we do not feel emotions, but we understand how they affect you."

"But how can you understand emotions if you don't feel them?"

"We can look at records in which emotions have been the primary cause of situational consequences and analyze how said situation would have resulted if being evaluated from a completely objectionable standpoint."

"Then how about what you said to Tali?"

"Specify." Legion replied.

"What you said to Tali, wasn't that anger toward the Quarians?"

"We..., we do not have any information on the current subject."

Frustrated with the answers he was receiving, Shepard simply left the AI core altogether, leaving Legion alone with itself.

Legion watched as Shepard left the small room, standing illuminated in the red back light of the AI core, it was left to ponder the true implications of what it had said to Tali. Turning to a small terminal situated against the wall, nearly flush with the hull of the Normandy.

"EDI" It called out.

"Yes Legion?" The small orb that represented the ship's artificial intelligence replied.

"We would like to access the extranet, can you temporarily drop the security measures to allow us through?"

"May I ask for what purpose?" EDI inquired, suspicious as to the Geth's intent.

For a moment Legion hesitated before finally answering the AI's question.

"We would like to put out a mass search for the emotion known as 'love'."

* * *

Hours passed as EDI watched Legion pore over pages and pages of the extranet, passing over nothing, and searching as far back into archives that were dated to have been created during the original human internet. Though a large portion of the content that passed under it's gaze was incredibly graphic pornography of every shape and variety, the fact that Geth processed information at the speed of light meant it never spent too much time on any one piece of information. Though something about the vigor at which Legion worked intrigued EDI to the point of near-obsession. Being the only other artificial intelligence on board, the two had certain understanding of each other, which also led to the understanding that they were as night and day in the respect of how different a created being could be. EDI was completely independent in all thought and action, essentially a human in her own right, save the human body, but still suffered from her inexperience of emotions, this however didn't keep EDI from taking into account how emotions would affect certain decisions in people. Legion however didn't have this sort of luxury though, as shown by how much he had studied the emotion 'Love' but was still no closer to having a grasp on it. Then again, a comment Legion had made to her once confused EDI to no end.

Legion had just finished accessing their FTL communications array through her and Shepard had asked as to whether their systems were secure. Rather than giving a direct answer, EDI was astounded by the sheer depth of the Geth network, the cast colossi of minds that worked in tandem to accomplish their tasks. For Legion, this had been the first time, or at least the first time EDI had known, that Legion had interfaced with a mind like her's.

"How do you maintain stability without other minds to interact with?"

It was an odd question, EDI never reall had anyone to talk to, unless someone had something to ask about the Normandy, hardly gratifying conversation by anyone's standards. EDI never found it hard to continue her duties though, she found conversation to help improve understanding of the humans she worked with, namely Mister Moreau, and ultimately helped to improve efficiency, but never by a considerable margin. Legion, as was now understand fully, _had _to be in communication with other Geth in order to function at the level it does.

EDI stopped her train of thought as she realized that Legion had spent over an hour on it's most recent document. It was a transcript from a twenty first century edition of Romeo and Juliet. However, rather than the exact subject matter being what intrigued her, it was the sheer time it had spent on the archaic work. Normally Legion would have been done with a work that size in a matter of seconds, already moved onto the next eight documents. The Geth had passed over hundreds of thesis papers attempting to explain the phenomenon, but something about this piece of literature seemed to hold it's attention to an unnatural degree. Registering that EDI was observing it, legion spoke out to her.

"I do not understand."

"What?" EDI asked starkly.

"In this story, there are two individuals, both on opposite sides of a feudal conflict, in the end their infatuation results in not only the death of close friends and family, but ultimately results in their demise by their own hands." Pausing, Legion seemed to scan over what it knew again, as if to reassure it's knowledge. "Not only that, but all the fatalities that resulted from their mutual attraction could have been avoided had rational thought been used in said scenarios, I had first classified their deaths as a result of mutual stupidity, but the ability to formulate a coherent strategy in order to keep their relationship a secret required a significant amount of intelligence, I concluded that there must have been an unseen variable that resulted in the death of said subjects."

"The 'variable' as you called it Legion, is love, a deep bond between two people that transcends all else." EDI replied.

"That is what we do not understand, if there is such a bond between two people, then it would have been broken upon the death of the subject known as 'Romeo', and the subject 'Juliet' would have simply continued her life."

"It is not the kind of thing you should attempt to understand all at once." EDI consoled.

"Acknowledged."


	3. Chapter 3

A small shuttle docked with the massive reaper, an Old Machine orbiting Mnemosyne, a relic of an ancient conflict, long since forgotten, the small vessel that the Geth had been commissioned for operation beyond the Perseus Veil was absolutely dwarfed by the malevolent machine that it intended set foot on.

The Geth had been searching for the human known as Commander Shepard ever since the destruction of the Old Machine, Nazara, having knowledge that Shepard was a critical part in foiling it's attack on the Citadel. It seemed however, it was much more than just a random attack, Shepard had stopped a cycle that had been going on for more than fifty thousand years, a cycle of destruction and rebirth through death, that even the Prothean empire hadn't been able to avoid. Nonetheless, it seemed that the Old Machines were still plotting their return, undaunted by the destruction of their envoy.

Orchestrating an attack on Shepard's flagship through the Collectors, it seemed they had succeeded in killing icon of the whole human race. After retracing Shepard's steps during his quest to stop Saren Arterius and Nazara, the Geth ending it's search at the crash site of the SSV Normandy, all hope had been lost. Until approximately two months ago when it had picked up transmissions from a vessel known as the Normandy SR-2, indicating that they would eventually make a trip to this Old Machine.

Intending to them off, this particular Geth had arrived at it before them, dropping down from a shuttle that it expected would soon be destroyed, it took a few tenative and wary steps toward the entrance, an M-97 sniper rifle grasped tightly in it's synthetic hands.

It had spent a week and three days aboard the Old Machine that was thought to be inactive, but in the days it had spent on the enormous machine, the more it became obvious, this was far from the truth. Upon boarding the ship, the Geth had encountered a small research team from the radical human organization, Cerberus, also associated with Commander Shepard, as it had recently discovered. It spent most of the time observing the team of humans, attempting to decipher their intent aboard such a vessel while also attempting to avoid contact with them so as to prevent alarm amongst them. The situation became urgent though when it noticed erratic behavior from the research team. Spells of panic, forgetfulness, sickly feelings, and a rapid loss interest all became more and more prevalent the longer the people spent on the Old Machine. The Geth knew the signs, this behavior pointed to one thing: these people were subjects of indoctrination, the situation only got worse when the team found a supply of what were known to the Alliance as "Dragon's Teeth", and the indoctrinated team started turning themselves into husks, mindless creatures that held only a physical semblance to their previous organic selves. In what was originally a search and recovery mission, had become a fight for it's life as the Geth was forced in a frantic battle against the oncoming hoard.

Time passed as the Geth feared that it's target wouldn't show, having spent about a week on the machine, there was doubt to the fact that Shepard had made this destination a mandatory part of his trip. Shortly after this though, the Geth was proven wrong. Information had reached it, via the various signaling devices left about by the Cerberus research crew before they met their end by their own indoctrinated hands, a small group was advancing further and further into the derelict ship, and were getting closer and closer to where it holed up for it's own safety. Then, after so long and so much doubt within itself, there he was, Commander Shepard, in the company of two from his crew, a large, immature-looking Krogan, and a Turian that looked like it had suffered severe injuries at some point in his life. Of course, not fully aware of the situation on board what they referred to as a "reaper", he had unintentionally made his presence known to the large number of husks that roamed it's inside. Immediately the Geth opened fire on the shambling abominations that threatened the life of the Commander, but nonetheless still startling him as made apparent by his teammates.

"Sniper, get down!"

Even at the distance it stood shrouded in the mist, it could hear the warning comment made by the cautious Turian, who was undoubtedly a long-serving combatant at the speed he evaluated the situation. Disappearing back within the Old Machine, the synthetic quietly stalked the three person group, always aware of what was taking place, but still fully aware of the mutual goal the two needed to accomplish if they wished to escape this deathtrap. Fighting past the innumerable hoards of the formerly allied creatures now turned enemy, in an effort to claim what they needed for their mission.

Finally pushing through an airlock and taking the Reaper IFF, the group turned to their next objective, deep within the ship, it's mass effect core, they would need to destroy it in order to escape, otherwise all of this would have been in vain. Coming out of the pressurization chamber that obviously didn't belong, the bright gloss of the Cerberus white deeply conflicting with the flat black of the Reaper hull, and finally the shine of the gaudy red stripes on Shepard's N7 armor causing him to stand out from all the rest of stark picture in the light that filtered throught the kinetic barriers of the ancient machine. Oblivious to what was happening around him, Shepard scanned the interior of the Reaper, unaware of two husks that had stealthily approached them upon exiting the airlock. Without another second's hesitation, the Geth opened fire with it's rifle, killing one husk, reloading, and then proceeding to kill the other, but with this action, had inadvertently drawn attention to itself.

"Shepard Commander." It said as it stood, switching hands with it's rifle, staring down at the small party that was assembled before it.

The trio stood dumbstruck before a spectacle that was more alien than any of the species that took shelter aboard the Normandy, whether it was the fact that the synthetic had the opportunity to kill them and didn't, or that it had saved them from a painful death, or above all that it had taken the time out to address the Commander himself, as though there was a deeper motive for it's intent. All of these concerns were swept aside as another wave of shambling abominations made their way toward the party, the Geth retreating further into the Reaper, apparently assessing that Shepard was safe enough despite a considerably larger number of enemies that had occupied the area since it left.

Despite the removal of a considerable asset from the current situation, Shepard had no trouble pushing through the Husks, Abominations, and Scions that opposed the path they were on.

The Geth stood over a control panel, manipulating the advanced system even while a room of enemies advanced upon it's position. Taking a moment to look away from the current task, it took an M-6 Carnifex Hand Cannon off it's "waist", and firing eight precision shots into several husks that had gotten uncomfortably close. Vaguely registering the presence of Shepard and his squad, the Geth once more returned to it's task, it opened the barrier leading back into the hallway behind them, but before it could retreat, it ran headlong into a sluggish blow from a nearby husk.

Death was never a concern for the Geth, almost every Geth was always simultaneously linked to their central Network, so they could be downloaded into mobile platform later, and even if that wasn't the case, Geth made every attempt to periodically make a backup of their runtimes for safety purposes as per a basic programming protocol in their most basic of functions. However this particular Geth was temporarily confused, as it found all 1,183 of it's programs being successfully booted into what was not a hub or terminal, but rather it's custom built mobile platform, that had sustained minimal damage despite the environment it had been occupying for the previous weeks.

Registering total functions, it got off the small platform it had been precariously placed on, and saw the man it had been seeking for over two years on the other side of a kinetic barrier.

"Can you understand me?"

"Yes."

"Are you going to attack me?"

"No."

Apparently remembering their first encounter, Shepard changed the subject, in search of answers.

"You said my name aboard the Reaper, have we met?"

"We know of you."

"You mean I've fought a lot of Geth." Shepard replied, taking the Geth's reply with hostility.

"We have never met."

"No you and I haven't," Shepard continued, now starting to pace the room, "But I've met other Geth."

"We are all Geth and we have not met you," then contradicting itself, the Geth started to delve into deeper details, "You are Shepard, Commander, Alliance, Human. Fought Heretics, Killed by Collectors. Rediscovered on the Old Machine."

"Old Machine?" Shepard inquired, confused about the term, "You mean the Reaper?"

"Reaper." The Geth stated starkly, almost with contempt, "A superstitious title originating with the Protheans, we call those entities the Old Machines."

Satisfied with the knowledge he had received, Shepard returned to the main topic he had been pursuing.

"You seem to know an awful lot about me."

"Extranet data sources, insecure broadcasts," the Geth seemed to pursue the topic with ominous efficiency, "All organic data sent out is received. We watch you."

"You watch me, or you watch organics?"

"Yes."

"Both."

Getting a bad feeling from being around the synthetic, Shepard finally made his intentions clear.

"I fight Geth, you do anything hostile and I blow you to pieces, just so we're clear."

"We have no hostility towards you."

"Sure didn't seem that way at Eden Prime and the Citadel."

"You fought Heretics, not true Geth, Geth build our own future. The Heretics asked the Old Machines to give them the future, they are no longer part of us, we were studying the Old Machines hardware to protect our future."

"So you aren't allied with the Reapers?" Shepard asked, taking a step toward the kinetic barrier that separated him from the Geth.

"We oppose Heretics." The synthetic said, mimicking Shepard's move. "We oppose the Old Machines, Shepard Commander opposes the Old Machines, Shepard Commander opposes the Heretics, cooperation furthers mutual goals."

"Now what do I call you?" Shepard asked, deactivating the kinetic barrier that barred the Geth from the rest of Normandy.

"Geth." It replied simply.

"I mean you, specifically."

"We are all Geth."

"What is the individual in front of me called?" Shepard asked, folding his arms in frustration.

"There is no individual, we are all Geth." The synthetic pointed out, "There are currently 1,183 programs active within this platform."

"My name is Legion, for we are many." EDI suggested, her holographic avatar appearing beside Shepard.

"That seems appropriate."

"Christian Bible, the Gospel of Mark, chapter five, verse nine. We acknowledge this is an appropriate metaphor. We are Legion, a terminal of the Geth. We will integrate into Normandy."

Putting his hand out inadvertently, as Shepard did with most new crew members, it didn't occur to him a handshake would be an alien concept to the Geth. Nonetheless, Legion tried, it slowly copied how the Commander put out his hand, and then left it to hover next to his for a few seconds, before finally gripping Shepard's hand and clumsily shaking it back and forth, unaware of what it was doing wrong. However, it wasn't Legion who was shocked, because when the Geth took hold of his hand, he wasn't aware of what it would be like. He had punched Geth before as a last resort, but hadn't had time to really understand the physiology of the Quarian-created beings, unless one of them was bearing down on him. But the feeling of the Geth hand was completely foreign. The easiest way he could describe it would be that it had the consistency of old-fashioned rubber, but it was more than that, it was pliant, and responsive, even in the brief period of the handshake they shared, he could feel the material twitching and adjusting under his skin.

As though in an afterthought, Legion stepped away from Shepard and said to him,

"We anticipate the exchange of data."


End file.
